Days of the Returning Ghosts II
by skycloud86
Summary: Five years later, and the action returns.


_Five years later, fifteen years after Day Three..._

**11.00am, CTU New York, New York**

The shock was getting to Cole as he tried to calculate just how many hours ahead they were of Sangala. Drumming his fingers impatiently on the desk as he waited for the number, he stared in disbelief at the note he had just been handed.

"They should have been more careful," he muttered, as the number he wanted appeared on his screen. Grabbing his phone as quick as he could, he dialled the number with the same speed, and waited for it to be answered.

**4.00pm (Sangala time), Alex's apartment, Mali Baso, Sangala**

It had been a short but hard day of work for Alex. Now that the Okavango School was back up and running, he had been helping to set up more schools for orphans throughout the stricken African nation. Mali Baso, the Sangalan capital, had temperatures that made Los Angeles feel like an Alaskan fishing village, and even this late in the afternoon it was boiling. Sipping an ice cold glass of water, he heard his phone and wondered if it was the organisation he worked for. They had been discussing, with him, plans to start a new school in the far north of the country, which was many miles away from Mali Baso, and was close to the desert.

"Hello?," Alex said, before hearing a voice he hadn't heard from in ages, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear it at all.

"Alex, it's Cole," Cole replied, and Alex could just tell that something was wrong.

**11.10am, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania**

Kim had been at work, with 'had' being the operative work. Now she and her family were heading the airport, ready to head straight for New York, and CTU. She looked over at her father, who seemed to have some idea of what was going on, even though they had been told nothing, and although she wanted badly to ask, she didn't think he would give much away at this point. The call from Cole had been brief, and he had basically told them to get to the airport, get on the CTU helicopter and come to CTU New York. No details on what was wrong, and no clues either. She guessed that it had something to do with her and her family rather than any threat to the local area, and she was hoping that everything would turn out OK. She turned her head as her hand was squeezed, to face her husband, who was smiling slightly.

"It's going to be fine, Kim, it's most likely just a precaution or something," Stephen said as if he had read her mind, although it was more likely that he had read her face. Kim quickly looked to her father for any sign of disagreement, but his face was betraying nothing.

"I thought we had finally left all of this behind us," Kim replied, returning her gaze back to her husband.

**4.20pm (Sangalan time), Alex's apartment, Mali Baso**

As Alex rushed around his apartment getting things sorted out, he couldn't help but think of past days and years. Cole had told him something he had been dreading in the back of his mind for five years, and it had always worried him that he was across the ocean, unable to do much without travelling thousands of miles. Grabbing his phone and dialling quickly, he waited impatiently for it to be answered.

"Hello, this is Alex Myers. I need to know when the next flight to New York is, please," he spoke. He knew that nothing was imminent, but he still felt the need to react quickly, a relic of his CTU days. Muttering quietly as he was put on hold, he made sure that he had everything he needed to get back to the US, and hoped that it would all just be a false alarm.

**11.30am, CTU New York**

Cole was on the phone to the US President, and she had been keen to know exactly what was going on, and he was more than happy to give her the details.

"Yes, ma'am, that's correct," Cole spoke, his voice calm and clear. It wasn't as if there was any immediate danger, but the very fact that they were in this situation called for vigilance, and lots of it.

"I assure you, we will find Tony Almeida and return him to prison as soon as possible. I'll put out the order to shoot on sight right away," he spoke once more in reply to the President.


End file.
